On the fourth leg of her Latin American trip, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Brazil’s President Lula da Silva He presides over a Brazil that is rising in confidence, economic power, and global influence but myopic in its treatment of Iran. The Secretary will have to make a strong pitch to convince President Lula da Silva to be wary of the budding Iran-Brazil connection which might produce sanctions-evading financial ties and cooperation to develop Iran’s nuclear potential. The Secretary’s message is: “with influence comes responsibility.” Thus far the …
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev arrived in Paris on Monday for a three-day visit and to launch a new strategic partnership with France. The new Franco-Russian embrace is marked by major arms sales, a space deal, lucrative energy contracts and greater market access—all under the banner of a blossoming personal relationship between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Medvedev. But the blossoming Franco-Russian friendship appears poised to come at the expense of European security. We’ve been to this show before. The historical connection between France and Russia dates back before World War I. …
With the decision by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to deny a stay requested by proponents of traditional marriage, the District of Columbia’s same-sex marriage law takes effect today. Anticipating that event, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington took another step to comply with the law’s terms this past Monday. Rather than begin to offer spousal health insurance benefits to the partners of any homosexual employees of Catholic Charities, the Diocese has chosen to end such benefits for all new employees, effective today. The benefits will also cease to …
On March 5th of last year, firefighter Travis Ulerick, of Dublin, Indiana, introduced President Barack Obama at a White House summit on health care. Upon hearing the first rumblings of dissent about the President’s plan, Ulerick tells USA Today he thought at the time: “I definitely think it’s going to have to be a huge consensus.” It’s now 12 months later, and the only consensus that exists among the American people is strong opposition to the President’s health care plan.The White House, however, is now completely uninterested in establishing a …
Tomorrow, the European Union will unveil its Europe 2020 strategy, designed to make Europe the most competitive, dynamic, knowledge-based economy by 2020. If the slogan appears familiar, that’s because it is. In 2000, the EU launched its Lisbon Agenda, to make Europe the most competitive, dynamic, knowledge-based economy by 2010. It failed. Badly. But instead of admitting defeat, the EU has resorted to its time honored tradition – don’t let a good crisis go to waste. It has become even more hubristic, seeking to centralize greater areas of policymaking and …
President Obama declared in the State of the Union address that the United States must be a leader in clean energy production. Why? “Because I’m convinced that the country that leads in clean energy is also going to be the country that leads in the global economy,” the president reiterated today in a speech at Savannah Technical College. That’s a good reason if it were guaranteed to be true, but doesn’t it depend on the cost? If a manufacturer in another country can produce these technologies more cheaply than a …
Last January, Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced an amendment which would have taken the first steps toward restoring fiscal responsibility in Washington. While the amendment failed to attain the necessary 60 votes for passage, it did gain strong bipartisan support, with 16 Democrats joining all but one Republican voting for the measure. Fortunately, all hope is not lost. The amendment, which would cap discretionary spending increases at two percent per year, is expected to come up for a second vote tomorrow. The spending caps would mark …
Littered throughout the President’s proposed budget and health care plan are over $2 trillion in new taxes. In the budget we see tax hikes on businesses including the death tax; new detrimental restrictions on a tax provision called “deferral” that is vital for U.S. companies operating abroad; and potential new taxes to raise revenue for health care reform. We also see in the proposed health care plan a new Medicare tax on investment income. Heritage experts have pointed out that tax increases have a negative effect on the economy and …
A recent Gallup poll shows that Americans see the U.S. as the world’s top military power now but doubt whether this will be true in 20 years. Only about a third of Americans believe the U.S. will still be ranked first militarily in 2029. Americans are intuitively smart, and they have taken note of a disturbing trend occurring outside the headlines: investment in military modernization is declining during a time of rapid military buildups abroad. They are right to be concerned. In recent months, Heritage has drawn attention to several …
